"Shaq's childlike selfishness and jealousy" - When the Lakers fined Kobe Bryant after he sounded off on Shaquille O'Neal

Even after winning three straight NBA Championships, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal's relationship was on its downfall. The two Los Angeles Lakers titans were dissing each other either face-to-face or through the media.

One of Kobe's early criticisms of Shaq came in October 2003 when the Mamba lashed out at the Big Fella in an interview. Bryant claimed that if he were to leave the Lakers , it would be because of O'Neal.

Kobe vs Shaq

"If leaving the Lakers at the end of the season is what I decide, a major reason for that will be Shaq's childlike selfishness and jealousy," Kobe said . "I have been a bigger person every time something happened with Shaq, and I don't expect this to be any different. But somebody in this organization had to speak up because his unprofessionalism hurt us last year, and I don't want it to hurt us this year."

Kobe might have been relieved after venting out his frustrations. But the end wasn't so comforting as the Lakers slapped him with an undisclosed amount and had a private one-on-one session with Phil Jackson to iron out their differences.

The eventual downfall

The one-on-one counseling session might have worked — but its magic didn't work when it mattered the most. Shaq and Kobe put their differences aside to power the Lakers to the 2004 NBA Finals. But even with Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton by their side, they lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games.

Kareem Rush, Kobe's backup and who played 22 games in the 2004 NBA Playoffs, shared his hypothesis on why the dynamic duo eventually parted ways. According to him, Kobe was craving to finally win an MVP trophy .

"It was like a real issue," Rush said on SiriusXM NBA Radio in 2015. "We actually had like a separation of the team. We had a big man alliance and a guard alliance. ... I had to pick Kobe's side. I was torn. Shaq was such a big character, a big brother to everyone, so it was kinda hard to pick that line."

"Shaq got three Finals MVPs, and I think Kobe wanted his, so it didn't work out for us," he added. "We definitely had the talent to win more than three titles."

Shaq and Kobe believed they would've won close to 10 titles if they had stuck with each other. Many fans and analysts have agreed to their claims, no matter how brash. But instead of ruminating on the what-ifs, it's better to reminisce on those good days when they wreaked havoc on the NBA.

Related: "Playing with Shaq gets me rings" - When Kobe Bryant admitted he needed "the big fella" to win